


The Archer

by tonischeryl (tallycravens)



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:54:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29540586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tallycravens/pseuds/tonischeryl
Summary: Just a fluffy little fic where Cheryl teaches Toni how to shoot a bow and they share a romantic picnic.This story was commissioned by @SnazzyJazzy_1 on twitter. I'm currently accepting fanfic commissions for any fandom, see linktr.ee/tallycravens for more information.
Relationships: Cheryl Blossom & Toni Topaz, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz
Kudos: 34





	The Archer

**Author's Note:**

> I actually haven't watched Riverdale since the beginning of season 4 so this is set around there. I haven't written for this ship in a while, so hopefully I've not gotten too rusty. Enjoy and if you'd like to commission a fic please contact me!

It had come as a pleasant surprise when Toni had asked her for an archery lesson, but she was actually quite delighted that her girlfriend was taking an interest in something she was passionate about. The two of them had set up a practice area and Cheryl had already shown her the basics. Now she was guiding her to make her first attempt, which Toni was a tiny bit nervous about. The last thing she wanted to do was make a fool of herself in front of the talented archer.

“When you pull back the string, you’ll want your index finger to be under your chin,” Cheryl instructed as she perched behind Toni, carefully guiding her hand back to pull the string taut as Toni steadily gripped the bow. “You’ll want the string to touch your nose, like this,” her voice was gentle as she began to discover that she very much liked teaching her. “It’ll be your anchor point. Now, I will pull back and you can let go, TT.”

She heard the brunette exhale a soft breath of anticipation that Cheryl recognized all too well. Cheryl had been anxious the first time she’d tried archery, but she’d improved since then and she loved it now. When the moment was right, she withdrew her guidance and observed with pride as Toni’s arrow was released and pierced the target. While she didn’t get a bullseye, she did hit the target, which to Cheryl was impressive for her first time. It was better than she’d done.

Perhaps she wasn’t so bad an instructor after all! She had considered becoming an instructor as she’d become more proficient with the bow, but this was the first time she’d actually tried to teach someone. How fitting that it was her love whom she taught. Just the act of teaching her felt intimate, and made her feel closer to Toni as a result.

_ “Magnifique, ma chérie!” _ she praised, settling closely behind her once more and pressing a kiss to her pulse point. “The trick to hitting the bullseye is, when you are looking toward the target, use your dominant eye...which would that be, your right?”

“I think so,” Toni murmured thoughtfully before her girlfriend continued. 

“You’ll look down the arrow and try to align it with the bullseye. It might take some practice. Just grab another arrow and try again.”

Her girlfriend nodded, but before she picked up another arrow, she spun to face Cheryl with love in her honeyed brown eyes. Even after all this time they’d been together, a look like that from her darling turned her into a puddle. Wordlessly Toni smirked and closed the distance between them, leaning up into a soft, romantic kiss that predictably took Cheryl’s breath away.

“For luck,” she winked at the redhead and turned back, plucking an arrow from the quiver and loading it into the bow as Cheryl had shown her. This time she didn’t hesitate, releasing the arrow with confidence. It hit the inner circle of the bullseye with a pleasant thud.

The way Toni beamed with pride made Cheryl’s heart skip a beat and her knees grow weak. She regained her composure with a deep breath and smiled as she praised her girlfriend for her accuracy. She shot every arrow nestled in Cheryl’s quiver, though the more arrows that landed, the harder it became. It was delightful to watch and when Toni asked her for a demonstration, she didn’t hesitate to take the opportunity to show off a little. The scarlet lipped archer smirked as she pried the arrows from the target and filled the quiver with all but one. 

She shot them off impressively quickly, barely taking a breath between each arrow, and when she’d finished, Toni wrapped her arms around her, remarking that she was always amazed when she saw her in her element. It was nice to hear, and earned a kiss, this one lingering longer and a lot less demure than the last.

“So, babe, I don’t know if you noticed the bag I brought along…” Toni started, earning a chuckle from Cheryl, who had of course noticed the bag, which was a wretched, tattered thing from Toni’s old life, making it impossible to miss. “I was thinking we could have a picnic?”

These romantic moments were her most favorite of all, as seeing this side of the tough Toni Topaz was a privilege that she’d never take for granted. They didn’t have many actual dates anymore, as they were living together and spent nearly all of their time together, so the fact that her girlfriend had made the effort to do something special wasn’t lost on her. It was a sweet gesture and likely one she would not soon forget.

“ _ Parfaite, mon trésor. _ A perfect ending to a perfect day,” she hummed as her stomach rumbled at the thought of the food stashed in Toni’s knapsack. “How do you always seem to know what I need before I do?”

A smile tugged at bubblegum lips. “Well, I  _ do  _ love you very much…” Toni began, removing a small blanket from her bag and smoothing it out for them to sit upon the ground. “So, I dunno. I guess I just try to anticipate your needs. I thought it might be nice for us to have a little date. I know it’s been a while since we’ve gone out or anything, so I took the liberty of packing something for us to share as the sun sets.”

She couldn’t help but notice that since they’d been together, Toni had begun to imitate some of her speech patterns, including her tendency to use more formal language. It was a small thing but it was a testament to just how ingrained they were in one another’s lives. She knew that their relationship was unconventional to say the least, and that was less because they were both girls and more that they were teenagers living together in the same household. Not to mention all the other weird shit they’d been through. That list was long and if they stayed in Riverdale, would only grow longer. All that showed Cheryl was that the love they shared was strong and that they were capable of making it through anything, no matter how traumatizing.

As she sat down on the blanket across from her girlfriend, she thought about how far she’d come from that little girl who thought she was unworthy of being loved. Her TT had shown her time & time again that she deserved love and for once in her life, she truly believed that she did. Toni framed even her worst personality traits as something to be admired. Even when everything else got difficult, loving her was easy.

It was funny, actually, how Toni was the exact opposite of everything she’d imagined she was  _ supposed _ to want. She had been raised to believe she must date and eventually marry a man, for one, but it was more than that. Toni was messy and chaotic; she could be defiant and downright rebellious. But she found she was attracted to that and most of all, to her protective nature, which happened to be exactly what Cheryl needed to feel secure.

They were soulmates, that she knew. It was never a concept she’d truly believed in until she’d fallen for Toni Topaz, but she had changed how she viewed the world.

“Earth to Cheryl,” Toni’s voice broke her from her thoughts and her eyes widened as she apologized for spacing out. But her ever kind and understanding girlfriend didn’t appear to be bothered in the slightest. She just poked her nose, kissed her cheek and offered her up a yummy looking sandwich. “Is everything okay, babe?” She had noticed how quiet Cheryl was being but it was for no bad reason, in fact, it was quite the opposite.

“Everything is perfect,” she assured her with a squeeze of Toni’s upper thigh. “I was just thinking about how far we’ve both come since we found one another. I can’t imagine what life would be like right now had we never met.”

Toni swallowed, putting down her sandwich and furrowing her eyebrows at the redhead. “Why even try to imagine that? I don’t want to think about that either. We have each other and I’m not going anywhere, my little cherry bomb…” 

The pet name was likely intended to tease, as Cheryl had probably given Toni a good half dozen nicknames, but she rarely received the same treatment from her. The phrasing actually made her blush deeply, which stood out quite obviously against her alabaster skin.

“You’d better not,” Cheryl pouted after polishing off half of her own sandwich. “I’ve grown quite fond of you,  _ mon petit amour _ .”

Toni’s nose wrinkled with a smile and she used her free hand to scoop up Cheryl’s, running her fingers over the top of her hand before linking their fingers together. “I have another surprise for you…”

“You’ve done more than enough, but I am powerless to resist. You know how much I love surprises! What is it?” The joy was evident in her tone and expression and she couldn’t help but squeeze her girlfriend’s hand in anticipation of what was going to happen next.

_ “Je t’aime,” _ the phrase was softly whispered with a deliberate fondness after she’d practiced them for the past few days. “I know how much you love the French language, and I found this summer class that I thought maybe we could take together.”

Cheryl didn’t know what she’d been expecting but it certainly wasn’t that. She’d never said ‘I love you’ in French to Toni before, and she hadn’t even been aware she’d been trying to learn, but the gesture touched her heart. She had always had a fondness for the French language and culture in general, peppering some of the phrases into her speech for much of her life. While she knew it was considered strange by some, it was yet another thing that Toni seemed to adore about her. 

“Oh, Toni. I love you so much,” she threw her arms around her and sent Toni toppling backwards onto the blanket.

What started as innocent giggling turned into several intense kisses, eventually broken by a breathless and flushed Cheryl, who tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she gazed into the eyes of the woman she loved.

“So is that a yes?” Toni questioned with a knowing smirk. “Oh, sorry, I mean, is that a  _ oui _ ?”

Cheryl laughed. “ _ Oui. _ Yes, of course, I would love to take a French class with you. I know that I’m more than a little rusty. I tend to use some phrases more than others…” 

They spoke intently about their summer plans as they made their way through what remained of their picnic. By the time they’d reached the end, the sun had just begun to set, almost as if Toni had planned it that way. It wouldn’t surprise her if she had. She could be sneaky like that. They huddled together on the blanket, Toni’s arm slung around Cheryl’s shoulder as the two of them were content in the moment they shared.

“Thank you, TT. For everything. This has been the best day we’ve shared in a while. The lesson, the picnic, the sunset, the French. It’s all too perfect. You know me so well. I was thinking that if you enjoyed our little archery lesson today, maybe we could have a friendly competition tomorrow. You know, if you feel ready. Or we can just practice some more. I just love watching you shoot a bow,” she confessed sheepishly.

“Oh, believe me, I know. I feel the same way when I see you shooting off arrows like you’re Katniss Everdeen.” Toni squeezed Cheryl’s side and leaned into her with a content sigh. “I’d love that, baby. Just don’t be a sore loser if I kick your cute little butt.”

Cheryl gasped in feigned shock. “Excuse me? Like you could ever-” Toni began tickling her, making her lose her train of thought and collapse into laughter. Giggling. Actual giggling. Cheryl Blossom had gone from an ice queen to a lovesick puppy and she wasn’t even a little mad about it. She quite viciously returned the tickling, because she was not one to be outdone, and Toni’s laughter was like music to her ears. 

She pinned her girlfriend’s arms above her head and gazed down at her adoringly, dropping her lips down to trail along her jaw and cheeks before she found her soft lips. Releasing one of her hands, she cupped Toni’s face in her hand and deepened the kiss, her body melting into hers.

“I am so incredibly in love with you, Antoinette Topaz, and it is an honor to be loved by you. I don’t know how I survived my life without you in it, but I know I want you by my side for the rest of our lives.” She rested her forehead against hers as she blinked away the tears stinging at her eyes, a product of her unadulterated joy. 

“There is nowhere I’d rather be. I love you, Cheryl Blossom. More every day. I would do anything for you. I’d kill for you. Die for you. I’ll be by your side as long as you’ll have me,” Toni promised, saying everything that Cheryl had known she’d say, but the words still had a powerful effect on the redhead, who sat up to catch her breath.

Toni wiped a stray tear from Cheryl’s cheek. “Those are happy tears, right, Cher?”

“Of course they are. How could they be anything else? You make me feel so loved and safe. I used to be afraid I would lose you and lose everything, but I don’t worry about that anymore,” she admitted, leaning into Toni’s touch. “I feel like even if we didn’t work out, we would always be in each other’s lives.”

“Yeah, I’m not letting you go that easy. You’re part of me now. I don’t know what could possibly break us up, but whatever happens, you’ve got me, babe. I don’t make that promise lightly. I will always fight for you. For us,” she swore lovingly, enveloping Cheryl in a warm hug, the intoxicating but familiar scent of cherry blossoms reaching Toni’s nose.

Cheryl smiled through her tears, nodding in response to her love’s beautiful declaration. “I really do think I was meant to meet you…” She trailed off before adding, “Took you long enough to get here though,” she complained playfully.

“Yeah, that’s my bad. Should’ve come sooner. But I’m here now and I’m not going anywhere. That’s all that matters.” Toni pressed one last kiss to Cheryl’s forehead before she cleaned up the mess that remained from their picnic, peeking over her shoulder at her girlfriend as she finished up. “I want to get home so I can show you how much I love you,” she explained why she was rushing a bit as she was ready to get inside.

“I already know,” Cheryl said pointedly, though she was not going to argue with Toni’s methods for expressing her love. She definitely had no complaints there.

“Well, a reminder never hurt anybody.”


End file.
